Transcript of the December 7th NPC Meeting Featuring: Ginny Mies of TechSoup

[08:34] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Welcome everyone to this week’s Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting!

[08:34] Rhiannon Chatnoir: The Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is sponsored by TechSoup Global and is a program of the TechSoup Global Community & Social Media team.

[08:35] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Today’s Agenda:

– 8:30 am Introductions

– 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

– 8:50 am Featured Presenter: Ginny Mies: “Technology’s Impact on Disaster Relief”

– 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

[08:35] Rhiannon Chatnoir: First a few links to start off the meeting.

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

– Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

– Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com

– Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

– Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

– Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

– http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

– http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

– http://flavors.me/techsoup

— INTRODUCTIONS —

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Morning everyone, let’s start off with Introductions!

[08:35] Sarvana Jonstone: Sally S. Cherry aka SarVana Haalan, Baltimore, MD, http://Twitter.com/SarVana (SarVana Haalan’s backup :-))

[08:36] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko

[08:36] Andy Evans: Andy Mallon, First Opinions Panel in SL…

Chief Bottle-Washer, Social Research Foundation, New York, NY

http://www.socialresearchfoundation.org/

[08:36] Par (parhelion.palou): Peter Tolliver, north of Baltimore, MD, generic volunteer, no org, no twitter, no website

[08:36] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett Elder Voices Los Angeles, Ca Health Care and Human Rights www.eldervoices.net

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir is Joyce Bettencourt, Boston MA area, Online Community Manager of NonProfit Commons in Second Life, http://joycebettencourt.com, http://twitter.com/RhiannonSL

[08:36] Buffy Beale: Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women, Victoria BC Canada, http://www.bridgesforwomen.ca @bridges4women

[08:36] Chayenn: Monique Richert, Protect Yourself 1, Inc., Baltimore MD, protectyourself1.org, facebook.com/PY1US, @PY1US

[08:36] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. www.virtualability.org

[08:36] Orange Planer: Orange Planer, network administrator for Homeowner Options for Massachusetts Elders, at a website I’m embarrassed to post because it’s so out of date: http://www.elderhomeowners.org

[08:37] Sarvana Jonstone: sorry for being a bit forward… Sally S. Cherry aka SarVana Haalan, Baltimore, MD, http://Twitter.com/SarVana (SarVana Haalan’s backup :-))

[08:37] bulaklak: Michael DeLong, TechSoup Global, www.techsoup.org, @mmdelong @TechSoup, San Francisco, CA, USA

[08:37] Orange Planer: And I’m sorta becoming it’s CIO as well. :-O

[08:37] Ronnie Rhode: Denise Harrison, The Garden for the Missing, http://www.gardenforthemissing.org/ and SLURL Remora (203,148,21), Project Jason, assistance for families of the missing, http://www.projectjason.org.

[08:37] Brena Benoir: Brenda Bryan, Preferred Family Healthcare, Kirksville, MO www..pfh.org, @brenabenoir

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: if you just joined us – please introduce yourself 🙂

[08:37] alebez: Ale Bezdikian, Online Community Coordinator, TechSoup Global, SF, CA, @TechSoup. @alebez

[08:38] Ozma Malibu: Sandra Sutton Andrews, Floaters Org (tech outreach to have-nots), locations in Arizona, Mexico & On the Road, @ozma

[08:38] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Ginny Mies, Content Curator at TechSoup 🙂

— TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS —

[08:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s move on to TechSoup Announcements!

[08:39] bulaklak: Hi, all! Happy Friday.

[08:39] Zinnia Zauber: Welcome Penelope!

[08:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we won’t be having a Mentor’s Central today – so you have a bit of extra time 🙂

[08:39] Buffy Beale: yay for Friday and welcome Penelope too 🙂

[08:40] Orange Planer: Oooh, more food shows up!

[08:40] bulaklak: Thanks, Rihannon!

[08:40] bulaklak: So first we have a webinar coming up on Tuesday 12/11 where tech trainers will share their experiences.

[08:40] bulaklak: Here’s the copy:

[08:40] bulaklak: Our tech-training pros will highlight resources that allow libraries and nonprofits to share expertise with one another on how to train patrons on technology. From ABLE to WebJunction, hosts Brenda Hough and Stephanie Gerding will take you on a tour of a web places and virtual spaces that exist to make training better. Guests will be invited to share their favorite resources, too.

[08:40] Tori Landau: Hurriedly flaps up out of Orange’s way

[08:40] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and.. a few more are coming in – so feel free to slip your introductions in during 🙂

[08:41] bulaklak: Aaand, here is the link where you can register: http://bit.ly/U6AQck

[08:41] Orange Planer: What if your CEO is a luddite who considers email to be an interruption and would rather stand in front of a fax machine for 2 hours?

[08:41] bulaklak: As always, this webinar is free. It will be recorded and available as an archive. AND if you would like it to be live captioned, just let us know 72 hours in advance and we are more than happy to do that for you.

[08:41] bulaklak: I think that is a whole other webinar, Orange

[08:41] bulaklak: But a good one!

[08:42] Orange Planer: I’m looking forward to that announcement.

[08:42] bulaklak: I also want to share the results of the latest ReStart Romania challenge. There are some really terrific projects coming out of the challenge to use tech to make Romanian government more transparent and accountable.

[08:44] bulaklak: For example, in Romania, the fact that half of Romanian buildings are not accessible has contributed to a 97% unemployment rate for the disabled

[08:44] bulaklak: One of the winning projects is an interactive map to highlight all the accessible buildings and push for more

[08:44] Orange Planer: Who is running that initiative?

[08:44] bulaklak: Here is the link with all the winners and a cool inititiative where Romanian activists share the things that piss them off

[08:44] bulaklak: http://bit.ly/SNxqO7

[08:45] bulaklak: This was a joint effort of TechSoup Romania and a number of partners including Microsoft and the US ambassador to Romania

[08:45] bulaklak: Lots more at the link!

[08:45] bulaklak: http://bit.ly/SNxqO7

[08:45] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great

[08:45] Orange Planer: OK, but not the Romanian government itself.

[08:45] Orange Planer: :-/

[08:46] Orange Planer: Gotta start somewhere.

[08:46] bulaklak: We’re excited to have Ginny Mies with us today. So in light of that — one of the awesome things she does as a content curator at TechSoup is help put together our weekly newsletter By the Cup

[08:47] bulaklak: It’s a great way to keep up with everything we are doing, which is always a lot!

[08:47] bulaklak: You can sign up for that newsletter if you already haven’t here: http://bit.ly/A4WcQ9

[08:47] bulaklak: And while you are at it, sign up for our New Product Alert, too!

[08:47] bulaklak: Since I have a few extra minutes (thanks, Rhiannion) I will just mention a few last things!

[08:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: 🙂

[08:48] bulaklak: As you are all super smart and helpful people, I want to remind you that you can help our community out any time by sharing your smarts in our TEchSoup discussion forums

[08:48] bulaklak: And one of the ways we make that easy is by posting open questions on Twitter with the hashtag #TechSoupDYB

[08:49] Orange Planer: Ooh, more phishing vic… I mean people to help!

[08:49] bulaklak: Or, if you go to our forums, you can search by that tag and find open questions

[08:49] bulaklak: Lol Orange.

[08:49] Zazoom Zimminy whispers Kyle Reis, Grants Managers Network, NYC

[08:49] Orange Planer: Never whisper, people might not hear you.

[08:49] bulaklak: Answering questions on our forums *is* actually a great way for consultants to establish visibility and credibility

[08:49] bulaklak: (As long as you don’t self-promote too much!)

[08:50] bulaklak: And lastly!

[08:50] bulaklak: Just another quick reminder about the ongoing Microsoft Windows 8 Apps for Social Good contest

[08:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: nod – would love to see some synergy between the forums and here at NPC

[08:50] bulaklak: Remember there are two $15k cash prizes at stake, and one $10k prize, as well!

[08:51] Orange Planer: That’s USD, not lindens.

[08:51] bulaklak: Yes, thanks, Orange.

[08:51] bulaklak: Here is the link again with all the juicy details

[08:51] bulaklak: http://bit.ly/QKexib

[08:51] bulaklak: Thanks, all!

[08:51] bulaklak: Have a great meeting and a great weekend!

[08:51] Sarvana Jonstone: Do consultants have to be members of TechSoup to answer questions?

[08:51] Glitteractica Cookie: Great update, Bulaklak!

[08:52] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you bulaklak!

[08:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: on the forums Sarvana? no

[08:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: or comments via the twitter channel.. no.. so feel free to jump in

[08:52] Sarvana Jonstone: Great info… Bulaklak, thanks

[08:52] bulaklak: Oh, sorry Sarvana

[08:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: though you need a forum account.. so sign up then contribute!

[08:53] bulaklak: Yes, to post in the forums you do have to register to be a forum member . . . but you don’t need to register your org

[08:53] bulaklak: You don’t need to be a 501c3

[08:53] bulaklak: It only takes a few minutes to fill out a profile

[08:53] bulaklak: and get started!

[08:53] bulaklak: 🙂

[08:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and a cross conversation would be wonderful – to see the expertise here help out there

[08:54] Sarvana Jonstone: excellent

[08:54] bulaklak: In fact, here is a handy link with more info on how to register and get started: http://bit.ly/register-ts-forums

[08:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks bulaklak!

[08:54] Orange Planer: I have only one question.

[08:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: on the forums?

[08:55] Orange Planer: Nah, never mind, I’ll just cause trouble asking it.

[08:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ok

— FEATURED PRESENTER: GINNY MIES OF TECHSOUP —

[08:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Time for today’s main speaker!

[08:55] bulaklak: Yay, Ginny!

[08:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s welcome Ginny Mies, who will speaking to us about how mobile technology, web apps, and mapping software have become enormously helpful in sharing news and spreading information about disaster relief efforts such as after Hurricane Sandy.

[08:55] alebez: woooooot, ginny!

[08:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: if you want to come up here Ginny and grab a seat

[08:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks!

[08:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: a bit about Ginny:

[08:56] Gentle Heron: Welcome Ginny.

[08:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Bio: Ginny Mies is a content curator at TechSoup. Before coming to TechSoup, Ginny was a Senior Editor for PCWorld. She covered mobile phones as well as consumer advocacy issues for both the website and print magazine. She’s currently in home stretch of the Master of Library and Information Science program at San Jose State University.

[08:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ready whenever you are to start, your slides are behind you and let me know if you need them advanced

[08:56] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Thanks Rhiannon!

[08:56] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Hi everyone, I’m Ginny and I want to thank you all for having me here. I’m new to Second Life so bear with me 🙂

[08:56] Orange Planer: Congrats, Ginny. Here’s hoping you pass the orals for your masters.

[08:56] Buffy Beale: Yay Ginny!

[08:57] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Mobile technology, web apps, and mapping software have become enormously helpful in the sharing news and spreading information about relief efforts after Hurricane Sandy and other disasters or emergency situations.

[08:57] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): For a TechSoup.org article (http://bit.ly/Sn7YhA), I researched the ways in which people used technology and social media to share important information and later connect with their community to help with rescue and clean-up after the hurricane.

[08:57] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I wanted to share some of the interesting info I found with you all.

[08:58] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Thanks 🙂

[08:58] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Texting campaigns have played a huge part in disaster relief for a few years now.

[08:59] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Residents affected by Sandy looking for shelters could text SHELTER and their zip code to 43352 (4FEMA).

[08:59] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): A few disaster relief agencies and organizations also have apps for the iPhone, Android phones, Windows phones, etc.

[08:59] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The Red Cross hurricane app uses GPS to find the nearest shelters.

[09:00] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): FEMA’s apps for Apple, Android, and Blackberry provided weather information as well as tips for what to do during and after a hurricane.

[09:00] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): TechSoup partner Esri had an interactive map (which is no longer up) that showed the flooding and weather information post-Sandy.

[09:01] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): You could access up-to-date information on flood warnings, storm surge, shelters, and more.

[09:01] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The Google Crisis Response project (http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/) has a slew of resources for both responders and those affected by disasters.

[09:02] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Google’s Hurricane Sandy map showed areas with power outages.

[09:02] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Communities could also create their own custom Google Maps for identifying where help is needed.

[09:03] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Tweak the Tweet (http://faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/TtT_Hurricane_Map_byEvent.html) is a layered map that shows the locations of disaster-related Twitter hashtags.

[09:03] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): This is one of the most interesting uses of mapping technology I found.

[09:03] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): For example, you can see where people have tweeted about flooding by clicking blue dots, which correspond to #flood, #water, and #surge hashtags.

[09:04] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): You can also find out where volunteers are needed via the #need hashtag layer.

[09:05] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I think I accidentally skipped my second slide so I’m going to go back 🙂

[09:05] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Here we go

[09:05] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Twitter has proven itself time and again as an excellent method of communication in times of crisis.

[09:06] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): During the hurricane, communities kept each other updated by using hashtags like #Sandy on what was happening in their neighborhood.

[09:06] Rhiannon Chatnoir: nod

[09:06] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Community members are now using hashtags like #SandyVolunteer to find out where they can help out.

[09:06] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Government agencies, such as FEMA, also used Twitter to get the word out about the storm starting a week before it hit.

[09:06] Sarvana Jonstone: aewsome

[09:07] Sarvana Jonstone: *awesome!

[09:07] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): But I think the rest of the world really saw Sandy’s impact through Instagram.

[09:07] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): According to mobile app’s founder Kevin Systrom, more than 344,000 images have been posted with the hashtag #sandy.

[09:08] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Instacane (www.instacane.com) is an independent site that is tracking all photos with Sandy-related hashtags.

[09:08] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I’m going to now skip over to my last slide

[09:09] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Recovers.org is a simple tool that helps affected communities create websites to organize disaster recovery efforts.

[09:09] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The Lower East Side Recovers (https://lowereastside.recovers.org/) is an example of this tool in action.

[09:10] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The site is a resource for both those affected as well as volunteers who want to find ways to help out.

[09:10] Glitteractica Cookie: does this presentation live ont he techsoup slideshare page

[09:10] Rhiannon Chatnoir: not sure – but can be put up there if not

[09:10] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Not yet 🙂

[09:11] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The nice thing about Recovers is that you can build web pages fairly quickly–which is essential during a time of emergency.

[09:11] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Occupy Sandy (www.Interoccupy.net/Sandy) is an offshoot of Occupy New York.

[09:11] Orange Planer: What?

[09:11] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): err Occupy Wall Street

[09:12] Orange Planer: Again

[09:12] Orange Planer: Wait?

[09:12] Orange Planer: “Occupy” a hurricane?

[09:12] Orange Planer: What does THAT mean?

[09:12] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The group coordinates recovery to neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy via special neighborhood hubs where community members can exchange information and volunteer goods or services.

[09:13] Rhiannon Chatnoir: the social movement started at Occupy has been often directing itself at relevant community inatiatives.. in NY they have been helping with post hurricane Sandy

[09:13] Orange Planer: Relevant to finance?

[09:13] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): One of my friends, who has been very active with recovery relief in the Rockaways, has been making soup and sandwiches in her kitchen in Brooklyn and then driving to the Rockaways and delivering the food door-to-door to those in need.

[09:13] Andy Evans: I read a lot of the Occupy Wall Street people were helping out in Staten Island

[09:14] Orange Planer: That sounds to me more like an organization that doesn’t have a focus.

[09:14] CarynTopia Silvercloud: The occupy sandy site was the one I found to be most relevant to informing me about relief efforts immediately after the hurricane

[09:14] Rhiannon Chatnoir: no they just happen to have started in the Wall St area, but the social/activism structure has proven useful for organizing other efforts too

[09:14] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): The idea is that the government agencies aren’t doing enough for relief efforts so Occupy Sandy/Wall Street are stepping in to take action

[09:14] Ozma Malibu: I liked how easy it was to donate funds to grassroots efforts. Also loved the “wedding registries” (Sandy and Sandy) with lists of needed items you could buy.

[09:14] Orange Planer: How transparent are the grassroots organizations?

[09:15] Zazoom Zimminy raises hand

[09:15] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): TechSoup has a variety of technology-related disaster planning and recovery resources for nonprofits and libraries.

[09:16] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Check out our Disaster Planning Resources Page (http://home.techsoup.org/pages/disasterplanning.aspx), which includes a link to our Disaster Planning Guide

[09:16] Rhiannon Chatnoir: did you have a question for Ginny.. Zazoom?

[09:16] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I’m currently working on an updates to it that include information on creating a backup strategy for your mobile devices.

[09:16] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Sure, does anybody have any questions or comments?

[09:17] Buffy Beale: fantasic information thanks!

[09:17] Zazoom Zimminy: yes, thanks. I was wondering how you go about curating the information available as the problem with disasters seems to be too much noise and not enough signal

[09:17] Zazoom Zimminy: Did you have a process for verifying the quality of resources around things like volunteering, the veracity of information coming in, etc.

[09:17] Gentle Heron agrees with Zazoom. The thing I think about social media is, it divides the information by multiplying the information providers. There’s too much out there with too little specifics, and nothing coordinated

[09:17] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Great question!

[09:18] Zazoom Zimminy: if anything, this is where curation is so critical

[09:18] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I have a few friends who are active in disaster relief/recovery efforts in the Jersey Shore and Rockaways

[09:18] Zazoom Zimminy: and it needs to be timely

[09:18] Ozma Malibu: Grassroots groups & transparency: lots of images posted of the work they were doing and we could follow on FB etc.Also, donate where you trust. I donated to the U-Hungry Cafe people cos they had a good track record e.g. with Katrina.

[09:18] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): So I asked them what resources they found useful, timely, etc.

[09:18] Orange Planer: Are these people audited?

[09:18] Rhiannon Chatnoir: what was their response back

[09:19] Zazoom Zimminy: so really the best way, finding local people you trust, trying to have your ear as close to the ground as possible

[09:19] Zazoom Zimminy: tapping networks

[09:19] Orange Planer: I’d rather buy the goods myself and drive them over.

[09:19] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): They said that following Twitter hashtags and other location-based sources were the best way to find out where help was needed

[09:19] Rhiannon Chatnoir: there is something to be said of trust networks…via either the info coming from an org or a person you know / trust

[09:19] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): InterOccupy and the Recovers.org sites were also fast and easy way to obtain information

[09:19] Ozma Malibu: yes, Zazoon, find locals you trust, tap networks. Or yes, Orange, drive out yourself.

[09:20] Orange Planer: Until you’ve got one person who runs a group by the power of personality.

[09:20] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): BUT, I’m not sure if you guys read about this, there was a guy on Twitter spreading false information. Saying that hospitals were on fire and certain streets were flooded

[09:20] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): So you can’t always trust what you read

[09:20] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): on social media

[09:20] Gentle Heron: I think that was Zazoom’s point.

[09:20] Ethelred Weatherwax: David Dexter, Manchester UK, arriving late and leacing early

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: One of the most interesting/amazing relief efforts was one that began as initially some SMS phone postings on Facebook, that bled to related interest/disability groups of a couple that due to the ‘no power’ were in essence stranded without resources and in need of supplies, aid and a way to use a ventilator

[09:21] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Right, so I think Interoccupy.net and Recovers.org sites stepping in to organize and verify some of this information was important

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that evolved quickly in to someone creating a google doc that was collaborated on and shared

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I2qc7n6YFasKCFz_3rr_Ue3Xwu-3KvTZJXT4…

[09:21] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): That’s really interesting, Rhiannon

[09:21] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that is the doc if you want to see how that worked

[09:22] Ozma Malibu: wow

[09:22] Orange Planer: Yes, I saw that site.

[09:22] Rhiannon Chatnoir: a great example of your network rising up to aid you.. or friends of friends of friends… etc

[09:22] Gentle Heron: That person in the news was a member of Virtual Ability. We’ve used Google docs before to help them out. In fact, that’s how Nick got to New York City.

[09:22] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes and one of the co-organizers of the disability group GimpGirls

[09:22] Ozma Malibu: wow, again

[09:23] Rhiannon Chatnoir: all started from an SMS post to facebook to friends

[09:23] Gentle Heron: Yes Aleja is the head of GimpGirls in SL.

[09:23] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): A few of you messaged me to let me know that my link to TechSoup’s Disaster Planning site wasn’t working. Here’s the fixed link http://bit.ly/QUQpFW

[09:23] Zazoom Zimminy: awesome, thanks

[09:23] Gentle Heron: But this is an example of where even the government info sites were not helpful. They gave out information that was inaccurate as far as help for people with disabilities was concerned.

[09:24] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I’m curious — do you organizations have disaster plans in place?

[09:24] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): *your

[09:24] Orange Planer: Or just use this: http://home.techsoup.org/pages/disasterplanning.aspx

[09:24] Rhiannon Chatnoir: good question

[09:25] Gentle Heron: The public shelters in Philadelphia were supposed to “take anyone” but they were not capable of taking in people with severe disabilities (one was told “We’ll take your parrot, but not you. You use a ventilator.”) and there was NO source of information for these people who needed more help than most of us.

[09:26] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes – the elderly were also severely impacted.. once power went out and they were essence trapped in high rises unable to walk down stairs

[09:26] Gentle Heron: I think that’s a good question Ginny. Since my organization is mainly SL based, with no RL activities, our disaster planning may be a bit different than those orgs who are location based. But yes, we have some planning in place.

[09:26] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Yes, a few of my friends’ grandparents live in the Rockaways and had trouble evacuating and finding shelter.

[09:26] Rhiannon Chatnoir: this can fuel a lot of discussion on how to make cities smarter and better prepared to handle disasters…hopefully

[09:27] Rhiannon Chatnoir: on that note Gentle, just loss of power is huge for any org that relies heavily on online technology

[09:27] Gentle Heron: Indeed it is, Rhiannon.

[09:27] Gentle Heron: as is back up for record keeping

[09:28] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): DeYes, backing up is crucial — a disaster can be spilling water all over your laptop 🙂

[09:28] CarynTopia Silvercloud: In my neighborhood in the West Village there was already an org that had been organizing around getting a hospitIn my neighborhood in the West Village, NY I was already in contact with an org that had been organizing around getting a closed hospital opened and that org was able to send out email to its members to organize help for seniors trapped in high rises

[09:29] Zazoom Zimminy: And don’t park your trains in Hoboken next time, NJ Transit

[09:29] CarynTopia Silvercloud: I could trust the info becuase I knew the people and the org

[09:29] Gentle Heron: HAHAHA

[09:29] CarynTopia Silvercloud: then I was able to send that info to my community in the Berkshires so they had a trusted source

[09:29] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Wow, that’s really interesting, Caryn.

[09:29] Rhiannon Chatnoir: at least not all of them Zazoom 😉

[09:30] Rhiannon Chatnoir: How many of you here were either effected directly or indirectly from Sandy?

[09:31] Gentle Heron: Some of our community members were, but not the organization’s offices.

[09:31] Zazoom Zimminy: me raises hand

[09:31] Andy Evans: Indirectly – I live in NYC…. wife had to get a rise to her job at the NYC DEPT OF Environmental Protection

[09:31] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I know Caryn, Zazoom.. some of us were more on one end of the storm or another or effected by colleagues we work/interact

[09:32] Zazoom Zimminy: more than half of our town was without power more than a week after the storm, though we only lost for two days

[09:32] Dancers Yao: collleagues affected

[09:32] Zazoom Zimminy: Had lots of neighbors over warming up and watching X Factor

[09:32] Zazoom Zimminy smiles

[09:32] Zazoom Zimminy: go Carly!

[09:33] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I had a good friend in Hoboken who they shared power charging in their hallways while they had it and shared info via cell on where to find resources/food

[09:34] Rhiannon Chatnoir: SMS usage becomes huge in an effected area would think

[09:36] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): SMS is a great way to stay in touch, but you have to watch the battery life on your phone 🙂

[09:36] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): in case there’s no power

[09:36] Andy Evans: Is it true SMS may work when the phone lines are clogged?

[09:36] Orange Planer: Yes, Andy.

[09:36] Buffy Beale: Sorry everyone have to leave early, great presentation thanks Ginny!

[09:36] Orange Planer: SMS depends more on IP through the phone network than on internet-IP.

[09:37] Zinnia Zauber: Take care, Buffy!

[09:37] Sarvana Jonstone: Local teams from “Somebody Cares Baltimore” and my church, Mountain Christian Church are going back and forth helping in the recovery. Twitter and text messages have been our communication for updates

[09:37] Buffy Beale: waves byee

[09:37] Sarvana Jonstone: Take care Buffy

[09:37] Orange Planer: Multiplexing that way is more robust.

[09:37] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Sarvana, do you use Twitter lists/groups to share info with one another?

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: you can use tools that help message many at once, like Group.me in those efforts Sarvana

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and thanks Buffy for coming

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and yes, twitter lists!

[09:38] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Group.me is awesome

[09:38] Sarvana Jonstone: we are using Twitter which bounces to Facebook… especially if request for expertise or items are submitted

[09:38] Andy Evans: What is GroupMe?

[09:38] Glitteractica Cookie: what is group.me? (jinx)

[09:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: it is a way to set up SMS groups Andy

[09:39] Andy Evans: Wow

[09:39] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): It is an app that lets you text a designated group of people

[09:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so you could add people’s cell numbers and then have your own SMS chat between all members of that group

[09:39] Sarvana Jonstone: will check it out… the teams are scattered between NYC and NJ…

[09:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir: there is an app you can use. but you can also use the SMS number for your group and just send a text message to that as well

[09:40] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): I relied on it when I was a journalist to coordinate coverage of an event. I’d imagine it would be really helpful for coordinating volunteer efforts

[09:40] Rhiannon Chatnoir: if you werent able or didnt have a smart phone

[09:40] Sarvana Jonstone: sounds like a much needed tool… Thank you… will share with the team leaders

[09:40] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great for use during events/conventions as well.. to plan things collectively and share info quickly to all

[09:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: https://groupme.com

[09:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: any other questions for Ginny

[09:41] Sarvana Jonstone: so much work to be done… TV does not tell the story

[09:42] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Agreed!

[09:42] Sarvana Jonstone: Thank you Ginny… Awesome presentation!!!

[09:42] Andy Evans: Fantastic presentation

[09:42] Gentle Heron: Thanks Ginny. Very interesting presentation.

[09:42] Zinnia Zauber: thank you Ginny!

[09:42] Penelope Lowtide (ginny.lowtide): Thank you all for having me!

[09:42] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes, mainstream media is often hardpressed to keep up with the speed of infosharing online

[09:42] Zazoom Zimminy: thanks!

[09:42] Tori Landau: Many thanks Ginny!

[09:42] Dancers Yao: thanks great info

[09:42] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes great to have you here – thanks Ginny!

[09:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Ginny also writes a lot of posts to the forum.. so another good reason to visit there

[09:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I have a link to her forum profile on the NPC blog entry about today’s presentation

[09:43] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and you can find her other content there

[09:44] bulaklak: Thanks, Ginny!

[09:44] bulaklak: Great presentation.

— OPEN MIC & ANNOUNCEMENTS —

[09:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s move on to Open Mic!

[09:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Does anyone have any announcements today?

[09:45] Rhiannon Chatnoir: if not we can end earlier… but if you have any events/info to share

[09:45] Orange Planer: Nothing here.

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[09:46] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is next Thursday

[09:46] Zinnia Zauber: Our color theme is GOLD!

[09:46] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes!

[09:46] Glitteractica Cookie: excellent presentation

[09:46] Glitteractica Cookie: i hope we recap it and point to it on the site

[09:46] Tori Landau: What is commonground please Zinnia?

[09:46] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and will add her slides

[09:47] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is a fun and informative networking party here at the Nonprofit Commons to promote about what nonprofits, educators, humanitarians, scientists, and artists accomplish in Second Life.

[09:47] Zinnia Zauber: It is from 5 to 7 PM SLT on Aloft.

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: usually there is a theme.. this time being Gold

[09:47] Zinnia Zauber: We aim for the Third Thursday of each month.

[09:47] Tori Landau: oh shame, sounds great, u fortunately I’ll be in bed, have a great time everyone °͜°

[09:47] Zinnia Zauber: New color themes each month, this time GOLD.

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great if you want to informally meet up with other NPC community members, network and chat

[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: An effective way to connect with a new audience and promote your organization’s mission is to attend our two networking parties at the Nonprofit Commons – Wharf Ratz Tuesday Night Extraordinary Dance Extravaganza and CommonGround.

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: will there be a Mentor’s meeting after this Zinnia?

[09:48] Sarvana Jonstone: According to my twin, SarVana Haalan… “CommonGround rocks!!” LOL, LOL

[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: A very brief Mentor Meeting.

[09:49] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ha

[09:49] Rhiannon Chatnoir: anyone else with announcements?

[09:49] Tori Landau: is wharf ratz also 5 to 7pm slt?

[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: So, let’s start that in 5 minutes.

[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Wharf Ratz Tuesday Night Extraordinary Dance Extravaganza is 7 to 9 PM SLT.

[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Every Tuesday!

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lets close this week’s meeting – please feel free to stick around for the Mentor’s meeting afterwards

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: And again, here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

[09:50] Orange Planer: So, some weeks there’s wharf ratz (2 hours), CommonGround (2 hours), and the NPC meeting (2 hours).